The forest was a blur to Gabrielle as she ran, her legs feeling heavier and heavier by the second, her body felt like burning lead eager to touch the ground. Only after running for what felt like an eternity, but probably wasn’t beyond twenty or so minutes, Gabi dared to look behind herself.

They were chasing her, she could see the burning orange lights in the mist, but their figures were far enough to be almost fully concealed. Still, they had not given up the hunt for a second, despite Gabi’s hopes to have somehow lost them. With a far clearer mind after her frenetic run, the woman reached for her sword… only then remembering she had completely abandoned it.

“Rats…!”

With no weapons to hand, Gabrielle anxiously looked at her left arm. She still had one trick up her sleeve… but it was a bit of a ‘last resort’, really.

“This is a last resort kind of situation!” Screamed a voice in her mind.

“Wait! What if we faint!?” Yelled another.

“Witchcraft is illegal!” The third added, nervously.

The redhead rubbed her arm anxiously, turning around to keep running away. But her legs, they refused to budge. She fell down immediately, feeling her thighs suddenly turn into stone as she tried to get back up.

“Come on, come on! Not now!”

She was used to this sort of thing: working until her body suddenly stopped responding. Of course, the effects usually hit her when she was in bed or at a time where no one could see her. Usually she had enough willpower to just power through these feelings when she needed to work.

But right then her body did not respond to her orders.

The burning wretches approached slowly, their every step turning grass to ash. And not too far behind, the hooves of Esperanza’s horse, trotting calmly towards Gabrielle and filling her heart with dread.

She didn’t fear death, or at least she didn’t think she did. Why did this terrify her so? Her breath grew shaky, her heartbeats quickened. She tried her best to stand up again, pushing herself with arms and legs. She failed, falling on her back soon after. Out of options, nowhere to run, Gabi began grumbling and trying to focus, harshly breathing in and out.

“She’s just a vision, she’s not real. She’s just a vision. She’s not real…” The woman tried to convince herself, while feeling heat starting to build up on the runes carved into the skin of her left arm. It would hurt a lot, but it was her one chance.

The first line of wretches was approaching, the figures of men and women disfigured by fire, groaning and trudging closer and closer to her. She had felt their grasp, her armour still carried burn marks in the form of handprints all around. Her hand reached for her left gauntlet… but then, something jumped from a nearby bush.

Gabrielle’s eyes widened as she saw a new figure briefly soar to the skies before descending, diving halberd first, into one of the wretches. This one was a woman, tall and lanky wearing a brigandine, a short cape and a big feathered hat. The figure, as soon as she landed and cut a wretch in half, swung her halberd in a beautiful crescent Moon, cutting and pushing back several other creatures as they snarled in pain.

Then, she turned to face Gabi.

The redhead had issues memorizing and even understanding the faces of others, at least when she still didn’t know them. She knew this was a thin lady, with short, straight and blond hair, but she couldn’t discern the details in a way that they stuck in her mind… there was, however, one detail that immediately jumped out:

Her left eye was permanently closed, covered with a big burn scar.

“You!” The halberd woman barked, her voice far deeper than Gabi was expecting. She spoke in a thick Normandian accent. “Can you get up!?”

Gabrielle, who was still dazed and shocked, shook her head.

“Saints damn it all…”

The mysterious woman looked around herself for a moment. She had already pushed herself to intervene in a situation that had absolutely nothing to do with her, something that went against all of her morals and prejudices. The mind of this lady was chaos right now, running at hundreds of miles per hour. Regret was already setting in, but she was also trying to figure out a way to fight off this horde, or maybe run away.

Could she just leave this chick to die?

Well, she could. But a voice of her own nagged her for even considering it.

“... Screw this!” The halberd woman kneeled in front of Gabrielle. “On my back, now!”

Gabi froze. What?

“What?” She repeated, out loud this time.

“Climb on my back, damn it!” The blonde was losing her patience.

The redhead blinked, this situation was familiar to her. It was just like the time she met a certain Saint… the memory filled her with nostalgia and guilt, but she didn’t have the time to process it. She pushed herself to cling to the woman’s back.

There were many questions in her mind. Who was this person? Where did she come from? Why was she helping her? Too much to process, really. She wasn’t particularly good at introspection…

“Oof!” The halberd woman complained. “You’re a fat one ain’t you?!”

“Heavy armour.” Gabi clarified.

“Sure, sure.”

Stolen novel; please report.

With the new heavy load on her back, the blonde got up, turned around, and started running to the forest. Those legs were quite strong, as they quickly gained a nice advantage from their pursuers. The forest soon turned into a wide plain, where a few wooden carts had been abandoned and scattered in their way. This had once been one of the main roads in Aespania, leading travelers and merchants from all around Jericho. Now it was little more than another footpath in a desolate land.

After they had left their pursuers behind in the wilderness, and the trail took them to the small walls of some old, forgotten town, the blonde sighed and set Gabrielle back down on the ground. And by that, I mean she unceremoniously dropped her.

“End of the road! Phew…” The halberd woman sat right besides Gabi, taking deep breaths and rubbing her legs. “That heavy armour of yours was going to kill me, I hope you know that.”

“Sorry.” The redhead looked down. “This was all unexpected.”

“What, falling down and twisting your ankle or something?”

“No. Feeling my body give up now of all times.”

“What do you mean ‘give up’?” The Lancer blinked rapidly, watching how Gabrielle slowly got back up. “Ain’t you gonna rest for a bit?”

“I need to keep moving. It was nice meeting you.”

Gabrielle proceeded to take two steps before falling on her face once more. The blonde stared for a moment, thoughts and old memories passing through her mind. Her disinterested frown turned into a softer little grin, as she walked over to offer a hand. A little slow, this girl, she thought.

“What’s your name, kid?”

“I am Gabrielle. I am not a kid.” Said the woman on the floor.

“Well Gabrielle, my name is Lucrece. I was planning on just ditching you but, Hells, you look beat.” Lucrece took said woman’s arm and carefully aided her up, or at least up enough to sit down besides her and against the wall.

“I am fine.” Gabi said with a grimace, this situation felt way too familiar for her comfort. “You can leave now.”

“Nah.” The Lancer grinned a little bit. “If I leave you here you’ll die, and I’ll feel bad for a day or so. I ain’t dealing with that.”

“Why.”

“Because.”

“Why though.”

“Because!”

“But really, why?”

“Woman, I can do this all day. Don’t test me.”

Gabrielle blinked, and then nodded. Alright then.

“Then what, are you following me now?” She couldn’t help but ask, tilting her head while looking back at Lucrece.

“Yeppe. Until we get the blazes out of this fog.” The Lancer pulled a tiny pipe from under her brigandine, then a pouch of herbs. “Want to smoke?”

“I don’t smoke. Were you following me before this happened?” Gabi remained focused, her guard on high alert.

“Noppe, you were doing a huge ruckus and I wanted to see what was going on.” Lucrece lied as naturally as she breathed. She filled her pipe and then… “Want to make a fire? The light repels those things, at least for a bit.”

“I’ve got enough fire in my life already.” The redhead said, letting out a heavy sigh.

“What?”

“Nothing that means absolutely nothing. Let’s just do it.” Gabrielle tried to stand back up. “...Can I call you Lucy?”

“No.” Lucrece replied, suddenly sharp as a knife.

“What about Lulu?”

“If you must?” Lulu said, rubbing the back of her neck. She didn’t really like it but, nicknames were good to start good relations. “But then I can call you Gabi?”

“People call me that all the time.”

“As long as it doesn’t bother you too much.” Lucrece shrugged. “Let’s go inside the town.”

“It’s a village.” The redhead corrected helpfully.

“Villages don’t have walls. It’s a town.” The Lancer blinked a few times. Was she really getting into this?

“Not all towns have walls though.” Gabi insisted.

“That’s not–” The blonde sighed, shaking her head and standing up. “Fine. Whatever.”

Beyond the wall and through a broken down door, the women found a town in disarray. There were burn marks in some of the humble wooden buildings around, broken down carts, destroyed windows… and dried up corpses. Their skins darkened beyond any natural hue, their every fluid sucked away, the hair fallen…skeletons with skin, that’s what they were.

The only saving grace of this situation was that these corpses didn’t smell like anything, but that didn’t make the sight any less shocking. Lucrece covered her mouth, eye widening, while Gabrielle closed her own and sighed deeply, muttering a little prayer.

“I will dig a hole.” The redhead said, walking over to the streets and starting to dig with her hands.

“Oi. Oi! Don’t just dig a mass grave in the middle of town! At least go outside!” Lucrece shook her head.

“Nay. It will take too long.” Gabi kept digging handfuls of dirt aside.

“At least look for a shovel or something!”

“...Now that is good thinking.”

“Let’s look for food and supplies. Because I assume you’re as unprepared for this as you look. right?” Lucrece teased a little bit.

“Maybe.” Gabrielle pouted.

The two walked deeper into town, looking through every house one by one. They were hidden, at least for now, so they had the luxury of time to spend being thorough. They walked into every house, checking for survivors… but they found only bodies to pile up on the street. Children, adults, elderly, the wretches made no distinction.

“Poor bastards…” Lucrece mumbled, pulling a book from an old, musty shelf. “Huh… oddly wealthy, they had books and all… E-Elle… heen, no wait, in…in-genius-oh… hee-dahl-go… Gabi do you know how to read Aespanian?”

“I don’t read.” Said Gabrielle, pushing through a few wooden crates.

“Damn it all.” Lucrece shook her head. This poor girl, she thought, is probably as uneducated as they come.

By the end of their search, they had found some barley and wheat, apples, some dried meat, a bottle of mead and, most importantly, a shovel and an old, rusty arming sword. It was really, really better than nothing. With their supplies gathered, Gabi once again focused on the task of burying the bodies they had found.

Lucrece had refused to watch this grim duty, and just focused on making a pyre, as big as she could control.

While the fire burned bright, and the mists receded slowly, the Lancer heard… a song. A soft, calm voice, gently singing.

“Ohh… bury my mother, pal and slight! Bury my father with his eyes shut tight! Bury my sisters, two by two! And then when you’re done, let’s bury me tooo…!”

Now that was definitely Gabrielle. The voice, albeit a bit different, was still recognizable. She clearly had been taught how to sing somewhere, but… did she have to sing something like that? While digging a grave?! Lucrece tried to ignore it for a moment, but with a loud grumble, she walked over to the singing girl as she piled the bodies.

“Ohhh.. bury the knight, with her broken–”

“Gabi.” Lucrece crossed her arms, staring down at the digger. “This could be a little disrespectful to the bodies.”

“You think so?” Gabrielle turned to look at the Lancer, sweaty and tired. “I guess that’s fair. I should think something more according to the situation.”

‘Or not sing at all’, Lucrece thought. But no, she wasn’t about to be mean with this girl. Something deep within herself refused to lift a finger against Gabi.

“In fact.” The Lancer suddenly realized. “Give me that spade. You come and sit down. You’ve been digging for a while now.”

“Are you sure?” The digger exited her hole, trying to wipe some sweat off her with a gauntleted hand.

“Yes. Come here.”

They changed places, and as Lucrece began digging again, Gabrielle softly began singing.

“In Paradisum… deducant angeli…”

“What. You know Aetalian?” The new digger turned around, curious.

“It’s Lingua Imperialis.” Gabi shrugged.

“You know the old tongue of the empire!?”

“No. I only know a few songs.”

“Huh…”

Lucrece let Gabi keep singing while digging the hole. It was nice to feel someone’s company for a change… it was a feeling she had forgotten.